This Could Be The Start (Of Something New)
by imhookedonaswan
Summary: Emma Nolan had her life sorted out: win her regional cheerleading competition, get noticed by college scouts, get a scholarship, and get out of tiny rural Storybrooke. Everything changes with some spontaneous karaoke over winter break. (The High School Musical AU that nobody asked for)


"Mom do I have to go to this teen party, I have a strong feeling it's going to be extremely lame," Emma asked as her adoptive mom led her to the room where the "teen party" was held while the adults rung in the New Year in a different part of the hotel.

"Honey you've been holed up in the room thinking of new cheers, you need to get out and have fun with people you're own age," Mary Margaret gently pushed her through the doors.

"Have fun! We expect you back in the room by one," her father managed to get in before Mary Margaret closed the door

"Okay, love you," Emma sighed. She figured she could stay for an hour and then head back to their hotel room and ring in the new year with Ryan Seacrest. Emma stuck to the edges of the party, making polite but distant small talk with the people who tried to engage with her, and watched as people went on a small stage to sing some karaoke.

"All right all right, who's up next for some karaoke?" the DJ asked the crowd. When nobody came forward two spotlights came on roaming around the crowd. Emma felt herself blush scarlet when the light landed on her and kept following her when she tried to move out from under the light. She reluctantly walked up to the stage where the dj and a guy in a blue sweater stood. Emma had seen him earlier, reading a book and ignoring the party around him; well at least he's in the same boat as her.

"You guys will thank me later," the DJ smirked and handed them both mics, "Or not." Emma wanted nothing more than to sink into the ground as the music started, she looked to her new singing partner and saw the poor kid looked like he might be sick. His hand shook slightly as he raised the microphone and prepared to sing the first line.

" _Livin' in my own world, didn't understand that anything could happen if you take a chance,_ " he sang. Emma's eyes widened, for someone who looked so timid his voice came out clear and strong.

" _I never believed in what I couldn't see. I never opened my heart to all the possibilities,"_ she sang back, relieved that her voice didn't crack. As they both sang Emma could feel herself getting more confident, she let herself have fun adding in a few dance moves to her performance. Her duet partner seemed to be lightening up as well, his smile grew wider and his shoulders relaxed as they belted out the last new notes. The crowd erupted in cheers as the music faded out and they smiled at each other.

"Killian," he said loudly over the sounds of the party and extended his hand for her to shake.

"Emma," she took his hand and shook it, ignoring the way her stomach flipped when their hands touched.

"You were amazing up there," he said was they stepped offstage.

"Thanks you too, do you do much singing at home?" Emma asked.

"Oh definitely not, I mean my shower I guess and I was in choir when I was a lad but nothing like that," he rambled nervously. "But you? You must do some sort of singing back home?"

"Only in my car, I think my steering wheel is very impressed with me. I'm more of a dancer anyway." Emma chuckled. Around them people started counting down to the new year, Killian rocked back on his heels and his hand flew up to scratch behind his ear. Emma licked her lips and clutched her hands together weighing the pros and cons of kissing him but she stood rooted in her spot as cries of "HAPPY NEW YEAR!" and fireworks exploded around them.

"I should probably go find my brother and mum, it was nice meeting you," Killian said quickly.

"Yeah I should do the same, but with my own mom," Emma chuckled nervously.

"But if I could get your number, maybe we could hang out tomorrow?" he asked hopefully.

"Yeah sure," Emma smiled brightly. They traded phones and added each other's numbers to their contacts.

"I'll call you soon," he grinned widely at her before walking away into the crowd.

"You okay Little Brother?" Liam asked, noticing that Killian looked a little pale.

"I'm fine and would it kill you to call me anything other than 'Little Brother'?" Killian shoved Liam in the shoulder.

"I'm sure you boys will do very well here at Storybrooke High, especially you Killian I've seen your transcripts," the principal beamed in Killian's direction.

"I don't want to be the school's resident nerd again," Killian mumbled to Liam.

"Then just be you, now mom's company promised that she won't be transferred until you graduate and I deferred enrollment at Yale to help you both adjust. You'll be fine," he clapped Killian on the back and nodded in the direction of his new homeroom. Killian gulped and pushed open the door finding the familiar sight of students mingling before the bell rang. No matter what school he transferred to they all fell into the same cliques; jocks hung out with the jocks tossing a ball of some sort between them, the cheerleaders sat not far away from them gossiping and giggling, the theater kids sat in the center of the room and laughed loudly, and the over- achievers sat and checked over their homework. He made his way to the back of the room, hoping to just blend in and sat at an empty desk.

The bell rang and the intimidating woman at the front of the room stood up dramatically, "I trust you all had a splendid time during your holidays but now it's time for the winter quarter to begin. Check the bulletin boards in the hallway for new activities, including the winter musical. Single and pair auditions will be next Wednesday during free period. The Scholastic Decathlon team is also looking for new team members, Chem Club president Belle French can answer questions about that." Killian was looking over his new schedule when his phone began to vibrate and ring in his shirt pocket. He cursed himself for forgetting to put it on silent.

"Ah the dreaded cell phone has reared its ugly head once more, Regina! Zelena cell phones now and I will see you in detention after school." She placed a bucket in front of two girls who both made faces as they placed their phones in. "Mr. Jones what a lovely first impression you are making here at Storybrooke High cell phone now!" She barked at Killian and held the bucket in front of him, "Miss Nolan I see your phone is out as well, detention for you too."

"But Mrs. Mills Emma and I have cheerleading after school," a tall brunette said in defence. Killian looked up and felt his mouth go dry, he had to be dreaming because there was no way Emma from the lodge was sitting in his homeroom.

"That will be 15 minutes for your insubordination Miss Lucas," Mrs. Mills slammed the bucket now full of phones on her desk. "The holidays are over and it is time you remember who is in charge here." The bell rang and everyone got up to leave quickly, not wanting to spend more time than necessary in Mrs. Mills's presence. Killian slung his backpack over his shoulder and walked out of the room and right into Emma.

"I don't believe it," he grinned at her.

"Me either, what are you doing here?" she whispered excitedly.

"My mom just got transferred, where were you? I tried looking for you at the lodge," Killian asked.

"We had to leave first thing I'm sorry," Emma looked apologetic.

"Why are you whispering?"

"Oh right," Emma said in her normal voice, "It's just that my friends know about the skiing and the hot chocolate but they don't really know about the whole singing with a cute guy thing."

"You think I'm cute?" he grinned at her and scratched behind his ear.

"Anyway welcome to Storybrooke I guess," Emma gestured to the surrounding halls. Their eyes fell on a bulletin board with a large sign up sheet for the musical. "And I'm sure after meeting Mrs. Mills you're just dying to sign up for that."

"No, New Year's Eve was a one time thing, but if you sign up I'd go see the show," he chuckled.

"No it's not my thing," Emma shook her head.

"Exactly, you should stick to your pom pom wrangling," a cool voice said. Regina Mills appeared from around the corner, tossing her hair over her shoulder. "Leave commanding the stage to me and my sister."

"How do you both get leading roles?" Killian asked.

"Mother double casts us, I get 6 shows and Zelena gets 6 shows. But you should sign up, there are a lot of supporting roles. I'm sure we can find something for you," she smiled without any warmth.

"Oh no, I just want to get a feel for the school first, there's a lot going on here. But good luck with the show," Killian said politely, "Emma I'll see you soon." He walked down the hall as the bell for first period rang. Emma side eyed Regina as she signed her name on the signup sheet in huge block letters.

"So that whole school musical thing," Emma asked as she and Ruby stretched for first period workout. "Do you think you get extra credit for auditioning?"

"Doubt it, and besides why would you need extra credit? With cheer and the Princess Project you'll have great transcripts."

"Oh you know, it's always good to look well rounded. Plus it might be fun to see Regina and Zelena sweat."

"True but you know Mrs. Mills always give them the leading roles and those two always almost kill each other to get more shows anyways. And besides they do a good enough job embarrassing themselves," Ruby got to her feet and held out her hand to help Emma. "They don't need our help." She winked and walked away; Emma sighed and tightened her high ponytail.

"Alright Dragons group up, fliers find your bases and back spots. Tumblers let's warm up with some back hand springs," she called out going into her Head Cheerleader mode.

Across the school in the physics lab Killian sat trying to figure out exactly where in the curriculum this new school was.

"So," a voice whispered in his ear causing him to jump. He looked to see the same girl who confronted him and Emma in the hall. "It appears that you know Emma Nolan?"

"Er kind of?" he mumbled looking back to the board.

"It's just surprising, she doesn't usually hang out with new kids," she said, running a hand through her hair before extending her hand to Killian. "I'm Regina by the way, I didn't get a chance to introduce myself before."

"Killian, and why doesn't Emma normally hang out with new students?"

"Oh well you'll learn how it is; it's pretty much cheerleading and not much else with her."

"I don't think that's true," Killian furrowed his brow at her. "Now excuse me I'm trying to pay attention to this lesson." He turned back to his notebook but saw out of the corner of his eye Regina glaring at him and he could hear the annoyed tapping of her fingernails on her desk. Killian got through the rest of the day rather smoothly except when he went to the detention room. The bored looking teacher took one look at him and pointed him in the direction of the auditorium. Apparently Mrs. Mills form of detention was to help build and paint sets for the musical. He busied himself painting a large wooden crescent moon, sneaking glances at Emma and her friend as they stapled leaves to a tree.

"We would love to have you!" someone called to him. Killian looked up to see a very tiny brunette who was in his homeroom jogging up to him.

"Me?"

"Yes you! Are you serious about joining the scholastic decathlon? We could really use a physics guy on the team," he asked, gesturing with some folded pieces of paper clutched in her hand. "I'm Belle French by the way."

"I'm Killian; where did you get those?" Killian asked, pointing to the pieces of paper showing him accepting an award for physics achievement at his old school.

"You didn't stuff them in my locker?"

"Definitely not. Look thank you for the offer but I need to get caught up on the curriculum here before I can think about joining any clubs."

"Well what better way to catch up than with the smartest kids in school?" a redheaded girl approached them, an insincere smile on her face. "Zelena Mills, I believe you met my sister earlier."

They all turned as the doors at the back of the theater banged open, a tall blond man stormed down the aisle. "Mills what is the meaning of this? And what the hell are those two doing in a tree?" He jabbed a finger in the direction of Emma and Ruby.

"They did the crime, now they have to do the time Nolan," Mrs. Mills said. "Being cheerleaders shouldn't give them special treatment should it?"

"Cora we are two weeks from our regional competition, they need to train as much as they possibly can." He stopped shouting once he seemed to realize that he was causing a scene. "Please let's just talk about this in private, but you two go to the gym." Emma grabbed her friend by the elbow and dragged her out of the theater, her face turning a bright red. Mrs. Mills straightened her posture as her and the presumptive cheerleading coach walked into the hallway.

"What was that about?" Killian asked Belle.

"Oh Mrs. Mills and Coach Nolan have been like that for as long as I can remember. Typical sports vs arts department stuff," Belle shrugged.

"Nolan? Isn't that-?"

"Yep, Coach Nolan's is Emma's dad. Anyways apparently Emma's parents and Mrs. Mills go way back and it's not pretty. And with the cheerleading team being back to back national champions and the drama department struggling to get people to sign up, it doesn't look like it's going to get better any time soon."

"How do you know all of that?" Killian asked.

"It's a small town, there's no such thing as a secret. Now are you absolutely sure you aren't going to join the Scholastic Decathlon?" Belle looked at him with wide pleading eyes.

"I'm sorry I'm really going to have to decline, but perhaps next year."

"But-"

"Since you seem to know so much about the Nolan family drama, what do you know about Emma?" Killian asked, trying to be subtle.

"Emma well she's nice enough, keeps to herself mostly when she's not surrounded by her teammates. I don't know her that well though, but if you want to ask her out just know you have a ton of competition," Belle smirked at him.

"Who said I wanted to ask her out?" Killian sputtered.

"You didn't but that puppy dog look you get when you look over at her makes obvious and I've only known you for less than a day," Belle explained. Killian could feel his cheeks burning as he turned back to the moon he was painting.

Emma sweated through her tank top and shorts as she practiced in her backyard the grueling tumbling routine her dad/couch gave her for regionals.

"You're still not quite sticking that landing when you come out of that last back tuck," her dad said.

"I know, I know sorry," Emma panted, placing her hands on her knees to catch her breath. She knew that in order to win regionals she was going to have to nail this routine and didn't mind the extra practices her dad coached her through when they were at home.

"Why don't we take a little break, get some water and stretch a bit," her dad looked at her with apprehension.

"No I'm fine, I can run it again," Emma straightened up.

"Emma I don't want you overdoing it, you could pull a hamstring or twist an ankle that way and have to sit out the competition," David insisted, handing her a bottle of water. "I know I push you a little harder that the rest of the squad but Emma if it ever feels like too much just tell me and I'll scale it back."

"No it's fine, I don't want anyone thinking that I'm captain just because you're my dad. I want to be captain on my own merit and that includes working harder and longer than the rest of them," Emma said as she closed the lid on the water. "But there was something I wanted to ask you."

"What is it sweetheart?" David asked.

"What if you wanted to try something new and you were pretty sure all friends would laugh at you and it's a complete disaster?"

"Well then I would say they aren't really your friends then. What's this about Emma?"

"It's nothing, I was just wondering," Emma shook her head.

"Emma I made you captain because you're a leader and you work damn hard and it shows. There will be college scouts at the competition, do you know how much a scholarship is worth these days?"

"Yeah Dad I know, it's a lot," Emma nodded.

"Good, now just try to focus on what's right in front of you for right now," David smiled and clapped her on the shoulder. Emma tried to smile back before setting down her water.

"I think I'm ready to run the tumbling pass again," she said still torn because she wasn't sure what exactly was in front of her anymore.


End file.
